Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang ‘s call-out of MSNBC for their coverage of his campaign and demand for an apology before returning to the network has led to a boycott from his supporters. Others have stood up for his decision , including actor John Cusack, a Bernie Sanders supporter who has similar gripes with MSNBC’s coverage of the Vermont Senator.
The Hollywood Reporter notes that The Young Turks founder Cenk Uygur, who used to work for MSNBC, also stood up for Yang and suggested the presidential candidate is right to be unhappy with the network’s coverage, which the serial entrepreneur suggested is biased against him.
“His complaints are 100 percent valid. MSNBC is an arm of the Democratic Party establishment. They’re very clearly against outsiders. Andrew is a total outsider — that’s why real people like him and the corporate media doesn’t.”
Uygur was echoed by The Hill ‘s Rising host Krystal Ball, who suggested Yang’s campaign challenges the Democratic Party gatekeepers, noting that his besting of senators, governors, and congressmen exposes the party as the “impotent, hollowed out shell that it actually is.”
As for Yang’s apology, Ball suggests it won’t be coming “any time soon.”
“After all, why apologize when they are doing exactly what they intended to do? The Trump era has been clarifying in so many ways. I think every real progressive now knows that MSNBC is not their friend. And as Yang put it so cuttingly: ‘They think we need them. We don’t.’”
Spoke to @AnaCabrera on @cnn about why @MSNBC owes the #YangGang an apology. pic.twitter.com/xamM27L7q0
— Andrew Yang????? (@AndrewYang) November 24, 2019
Uygur — along with his Young Turks co-host Ana Kasparian — has officially thrown his support behind Sanders. Regardless, the reaction of Sanders supporters like Uygur and Cusack appears to mirror their own frustration with the media’s coverage of the Vermont senator.
Jacobin Magazine suggests that MSNBC is “riding hard” against Sanders, noting the many cases of selective poll reporting, erasing facts, and figures favorable to the senator, and even allegedly outright lying. The article notes an In These Times report that reveals that MSNBC talked about Joe Biden twice as often as Warren and three times as often as Sanders. In addition, when the network did mention Sanders, they were more likely to be critical of his candidacy than favorable, as further noted.
Yang’s campaign has experienced similar perceived slights from mainstream media — notably MSNBC — that have led to a long and rocky relationship with the network. This came to a head when he demanded an apology and accused them of lying about providing his campaign with one.
